Offa's Dyke Path is one of Britain's great National Trails, running 177 miles (285km) from Sedbury, near Chepstow on the Severn Estuary, north to Prestatyn on the coast — passing through eight counties and crossing the England–Wales border more than 20 times along the way. It was officially opened on 10 July 1971, and takes most walkers around 12 days to complete end to end. For around 60 miles of its length the trail follows, or runs close to, the earthwork after which it is named: Offa's Dyke itself, traditionally attributed to the 8th-century Mercian king Offa.
The trail's final stretch runs directly along the ridge of the Clwydian Range, the chain of hills immediately east of Denbigh, before dropping down to the coast at Prestatyn. Walkers heading north typically spend their last night on the trail at Bodfari, a village a few miles from Denbigh, before climbing out of the Vale of Clwyd and onto the high, heather-covered ridge that carries the path over a string of Iron Age hillforts — including Penycloddiau, Moel Arthur and Foel Fenlli — on the way to Moel Famau and, eventually, the sea.
You don't need to walk the whole route to enjoy it: the Clwydian Range section is easily reached for a day's hillwalking from Denbigh, and gives a genuine taste of one of Britain's classic long-distance trails without the twelve-day commitment.
Offa's Dyke Path is a 285-kilometre National Trail broadly following the line of the great earthwork built by King Offa of Mercia in the 8th century to mark the boundary between his kingdom and the Welsh princedoms, and its northern section crosses directly over the summit of Moel Famau and the Jubilee Tower, just a short drive from Denbigh. The trail is one of the most celebrated long-distance walking routes in Britain, taking in a huge variety of border landscape from the Severn valley to the North Wales coast.
For visitors based in Denbigh, sections of the path through the Clwydian Range offer some of the best day-walking in the immediate area, whether tackling a short stretch around Moel Famau or a longer route linking several of the range's hillforts, with the option to arrange transport back or walk a there-and-back route from one of the main car parks.